Press

8 Questions for Tian Feng

Mr Tian, what have you been busy with lately?
Just completed writing Breakthrough Technologies 2 in collaboration with MIT Technology Review. The book is focused on studying how frontier technology have changed human society, industry and life. The Internet has made global data available online, and the explosion in the digital universe has produced intelligent agents in all industries.

You’ve mentioned the “three layers of technology”. Where is China positioned?
China is currently at the crucial structural transformation phase of moving from “business innovation” to “fundamental innovation”. It is transitioning from leveraging “consumption intensive market” to relying on “talent intensive technology”. Sharing bicycles and sharing Charge Pal are business innovations, while “city brain”, “face recognition payment” and “quantum computer” are fundamental technological innovation.

What is artificial intelligence (AI)? What is the relationship between AI and big data?
Big data is the “food” that feeds AI. Under current algorithmic techniques, AI that is not continuously being trained by big data is considered “retarded”. Big data without AI is deemed a “abstruse”; humans don't understand it, only machines can read it. Therefore, we call it “data intelligence”. Big data and AI are two sides of the same coin. No data, no intelligence.

Which traditional industries will AI disrupt?
All industries generate data which are read by AI algorithms. Online data AI algorithms, when combined with different industries, will produce rules of the game for the market and core competitiveness which are completely different from that of the past offline. Examples of these include intelligent store recommendations in “new retail” by raising sales volume via word-of-mouth across the network; city brain and express vehicle dispatch platforms in “new transport”, allowing public use of private cars to increase travel efficiency for the masses; industrial brain in “new manufacturing” which helps lower product defect rates; and data generates credit and credit generates wealth in “new finance”.

AI is good at logical reasoning, and has excellent computing ability, but literature and art tend toward affective thinking. Can we take this to mean that it’s difficult for AI to enter the realms of literature and art?
Logical reasoning describes a “condition-outcome” relationship. If psychology also describes a “condition-outcome” relationship, then AI will be able to learn literary and artistic creation. The premise is that psychology+machine learning is able to find the correct method of analyzing this type of relationship.

Unicorns have appeared in many industries, such as Uber, Didi (formerly Didi Dache) and Mobike/OFO. In the content industry, there are Amazon’s eBooks and Ximalaya’s audio content, among others. How did the market become concentrated so quickly? Will this condition persist over the longer term?
Because of the “Pareto Principle” (the 80/20 Rule), the Internet unicorn winner takes all, but MIT’s latest research shows that “super-Paretos” exist in the AI era. Enterprises that are adept at using “data intelligence” will use data analytics to rapidly increase their unique competitiveness. Market coverage would change from the traditional 80/20 to 10/90 or 5/95. Competition in AI has intensified, and has evolved from competing to be the best in the field to an out-and-out "duel to the death“ among industry players.

Can you talk about legislation pertaining to AI? Are there any legal restraints?
The automobile was first invented in the UK, but the US is indeed the country on the wheels, becoming the biggest winner in the industrial revolution. In terms of industry, the Ford assembly line deserves much credit; in terms of policy, however, the UK’s “Red Flag Laws” had significantly limited domestic industrial growth. AI policies are like traffic rules in big cities which are formulated before a million cars are manufactured. They are a double-edged sword. When used correctly, they can activate the path of the superpowers of the next generation. When used poorly, one would miss the era’s window of opportunity resulting from China’s data dividend. Incentivizing domestic AI technological development with policy measures, and replacing “centralized control” with “government supervision” are the best policy catalysts for technological development at the initial stage.

AI can provide real-time matching for both buyers and suppliers. Do you think it can replace face-to-face international exhibitions, and make seeking business cooperation as easy as shopping on Taobao?
AI depends on big data, and can maximize the allocation of societal resources, and efficiently meet demand and supply. It can be applied effectively not only in travel and transport, dining, marriage and exhibitions, but also in national defense, commerce and trade as well as urban governance. In the next decade, “data intelligent” platforms will emerge in every industry. Alibaba Cloud and other technology leaders are in the process of looking into optimizing “industrial brain”, “city brain”, “health care brain”, “education brain”, “logistics brain”, “finance brain”, “legal brain”, “agriculture brain” and “media brain”.

Tian Feng（田丰） will be speaking at the StoryDrive conference in Beijing (31 May - 1 June 2017).